Michael SymonSymon stages a taping of his network show "The Chew" in a Cleveland Heights fire station and talks about his upcoming plans here.

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Michael Symon called on the Cleveland Heights Fire Department
Saturday morning, but the only thing ablaze was the brunch competition he was staging
for his network show, "The Chew."

On one side of the camera, fireman Brian Gorsky's team put
together a hero sandwich with goat cheese, avocado, kalamata olives and a side
of cottage ham.

On the other, Dave Stepanik's group made "A Lotta Strata,"
built with croissants and fruit, served with plates of pecan-crusted bacon.

The judge, Symon, was torn. "You guys are doing an 'Iron Chef' thing here," he said.

"Aluminum Chef," quipped Gorsky.

Symon got serious. "This is not like third-grade T-ball," he told the uniformed
men at the Mayfield Road station. "Someone is going to strike out here."

At the request of his director, Becky Horvath, Symon then
spent a few moments putting the look of consideration on his face for the
camera.

"As a Greek kid in Cleveland, I liked olives as much as
bacon," Symon said before selecting the winner.

Audiences may have to wait until this segment of the network
show airs, tentatively, on Feb. 4.

Symon fans won't have to wait for some other news. A few
months ago, Symon and his wife, Liz, downsized their home, moving from Shaker
Heights to a property with "less yard" in the Cedar Hill area of Cleveland
Heights. He is two months from opening a B Spot burger restaurant in Detroit,
four months from opening one in Columbus, and is at work on two Cleveland
restaurant projects which he would not divulge.

"One involves taking over a legendary dining spot in the
city," he said, declining to elaborate more.

He is also at work on his own brand of bacon, in partnership
with New York butcher Pat LaFrieda. His organic, heritage breed product free of
artificial nitrates is expected later this year. Symon said he suffers from severe arthritis, a condition
that is aggravated by the usual sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite.

This is at least the second time in three years that Symon
featured his hometown on the network show he does with Mario Batali, Carla
Hall, Daphne Oz and Clinton Kelly. He played footage of West Side Market's fire
last year and made a plea for donations.

This time the fire department in Cleveland Heights asked the
new resident to stop by for breakfast. The invitation turned into a friendly
competition, with some firefighters showing their food savvy.

Gorsky accused Stepanik's team of whipping cream so long it
turned into butter. One of Stepanik's crew said they should win, "because we
got the bacon." They made both pork and beef bacon, the latter in consideration
of a Muslim member of the team, coated it with blueberry sauce and added
crushed pecans.

Symon had a busy weekend. On Friday, he cooked a five-course
dinner for 20 people in Shaker Heights to satisfy a donor to his fundraising
effort for West Side Market. On the menu were oxtail risotto, smoked duck
breast with cabbage, slow-roasted beets with Lucky Penny goat cheese, a 30-day
aged prime strip steak and a Thanksgiving-style stuffing including beef bone
marrow.

This fall, his Michael Symon Foundation will produce
benefits for Autism Speaks and Urban Community School. He and the crew were expected to visit several of his
properties in town for additional footage.

Firefighters gave Symon an official department T-shirt
with "Chef Symon" embroidered under the logo.

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